Top Senate Republicans said Thursday that bipartisan talks to address the crisis at the southern border are on life support, imperiling chances of a broader deal on tens of billions of dollars in support for Ukraine and other U.S. allies.
House Republicans have been balking at details of the negotiations and former President Donald Trump has weighed in with deep skepticism as well, leaving the as-yet-unreleased deal on the brink of failure.
“We’re close to that point. Something’s got to give here,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 GOP leader in the chamber. “We’re at a critical moment.”
His comments came the day after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said a deal was in doubt. He told GOP colleagues in a private meeting that the “politics have changed,” according to a report in Punchbowl News.
The border talks had become the linchpin in the $110 billion national security spending package. Many Republicans said they could not justify to their voters approving more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine to defend its border against Russia while not doing something to solve the chaos at the U.S.-Mexico boundary.
The emerging deal would have stiffened rules for claiming asylum and would have allowed new expulsion powers when the flow of illegal immigrants topped 5,000 a day. President Biden, meanwhile, was hoping to get work permits issued to unauthorized migrants as soon as they are caught and released. He also wanted to expand legal immigration.
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House Republicans, though, wanted a more enforcement-heavy solution including border wall construction and an end to the administration’s expansive use of “parole” to allow catch-and-release. They said the Senate deal would do little to derail the flow of migrants, and left too much discretion in the hands of an administration they don’t trust to carry out the laws.
Mr. Trump, well on his way to claiming the GOP presidential nomination, urged Republicans to reject any deal that didn’t solve the border.
Mr. McConnell, in his private assessment, signaled Mr. Trump‘s growing influence over congressional Republicans, at one point calling him the party’s “nominee,” according to the report.
The lead Democratic negotiator, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, serving as Democrats’ lead negotiator, said Republicans were seeking to preserve a political issue by scuttling bipartisan talks.
“I know for Donald Trump and some Republicans, it’s not in their best interest for there to be policy changes that actually fix the broken asylum system, or give the president new tools to better manage the border,” he said.
He said he’s still negotiating with Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the GOP‘s chief negotiator.
Mr. Lankford told The Washington Times that the discussions are ongoing, but he said Mr. Trump‘s sway has swelled and it is having an effect.
“That’s the shift that has occurred,” he said, adding that Mr. McConnell is “just acknowledging that that is just a reality.”
Some Republicans cheered the negotiators on, saying Mr. McConnell’s skepticism shouldn’t derail the effort.
“His comments were not a suggestion, in any way shape or form, that we not proceed with border security,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, South Dakota Republican. “I did not hear a suggestion of walking away.”
But Sen. J.D. Vance, Ohio Republican, said Mr. McConnell was “acknowledging political realities.”
“What it does fundamentally when it fails, is it allows the president to blame ‘MAGA Republicans’ for the failure of a border security package, when in reality what failed was a very weak border security package that didn’t actually do anything,” Mr. Vance said.
Republican senators have grown frustrated with Mr. McConnell over the negotiations, saying secrecy about the terms of the deal helped foster skepticism and what did emerge from leaks wasn’t very enticing.
“We haven’t been told anything. This is a source of much consternation inside the conference, including with me,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican. “I was just telling a member of leadership just a minute ago on this topic, who was telling me, ‘Oh, please stop criticizing the border deal.’”
Funding for Israel could likely pass both the House and Senate on its own. Funding for Ukraine could clear the Senate but would struggle in the House, where the GOP controls the floor schedule and would be unlikely to bring up any bill that doesn’t also deliver what they want for the U.S. border.
Negotiations on the border have been going on for months, with senators blowing through repeated deadlines set by the White House or chamber leaders.
Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, sounded a new optimistic note last week that chances for a deal were better than 50-50 and things were headed “in the right direction.”
But the ends were always fraying.
In addition to House Republicans’ opposition, Democrats were facing a revolt from immigrant-rights advocates who complained that the leaked details of the deal were too harsh to the migrants streaming toward the U.S.
On Thursday, though, they eagerly pinned the blame on Mr. Trump.
“Donald Trump knows the art of killing the deal, even a bad border and immigration package that would have given him a wish list of anti-immigration priorities,” said Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of America’s Voice.
She said Republicans wanted “a scary non-white ‘other’ to demagogue” in the election.